


On Earth as It is in Heaven

by glitterandlube



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-03
Updated: 2010-08-03
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:34:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitterandlube/pseuds/glitterandlube





	On Earth as It is in Heaven

John kicks Rodney's bathroom door and yells, "Stop that or you'll go blind" causing Rodney to get shampoo in his eyes and curse for five minutes straight. If his eyes end up bloodshot when he has to make a presentation to the International Committee on the developments in astrophysics that have come out of Atlantis, he is replacing John's hair gel with glue. All 27 bottles the man is planning to sneak on the Daedalus.

Luckily, some visine clears his eyes up, and John goes with him to the presentation, smiling affably, and generally making Rodney look like even more of a jackass when he blusters his way through the small talk that always annoys him about these things. John smiles harder when Rodney starts swearing at some German man who dares to claim he should have gotten Rodney's position. The man left the room shaking and broken, causing John to loop an arm around Rodney's shoulder and beam. "Feel better now that you ruined someone's life?"

"No, I just hate these things. And you. Mostly you though." John's smile turns real at his words, and his face bunches up fetchingly. Rodney makes a disgusted noise and walks off, letting John trail behind him, spreading charm as he goes. He is surprised four leaf clovers don't spring up under the man's feet.

John sits on the left side of the audience and makes faces at Rodney throughout his entire speech. Rodney actually has to stop in the middle so he doesn't start laughing. He hides it by drinking a glass of water, but everyone in the audience is more amazed by his ability to talk that much without seemingly taking a breathe than his speech. They don't understand most of it anyway. John does though, and he makes bad jokes about Heisenberg afterwards that made Rodney admit defeat. There is no way he could be a more annoying human being than John. Clearly his hair gave him a magical edge.

They end up at some McDonald's that is open all night, where Rodney scribbles new diagrams for a revised idea on minute improvements in M-theory, and John spends five whole minutes not throwing spit balls at Rodney's hair. Rodney frowns at him, "When did I get more mature than you?"

John shrugs easily, "I've been asking myself that question, too. All night. That was a nice speech, it's too bad no one understood a word of it. You gave it really enthuastically though, that definitely counts for something."

Rodney stared at him. "Why are we here? We're not friends here, we're on Earth, go bond with some grunts or something."

John's smile goes flat. He stops talking and stares out the window, watching the cars periodically glide past. Then he kicks Rodney under the table. Rodney starts laughing. John is looking at him out of the corner of his eye, making sad faces. "Oh god, fine, we're friends here too. As much as either of us has friends." John answers with his eyebrows, shrugging with his face. He is the only person Rodney has ever seen with the ability to do that.

The cashiers behind the counter look tired and bored, though one straightens up when John goes up to get them some apple pies. He waits very carefully until Rodney has taken a bite, and says, "So did you see American Pie?" Rodney spits apple on the table, and on his diagrams. He starts whacking Sheppard with his briefcase at that point and the cashiers laugh. John leaves two hundred dollar bills on the counter for each of them. There were crappy jobs in Atlantis and then there were crappy jobs on Earth.

They walk out to the parking lot, John huddled down in his coat, because even the desert gets cold at night. Rodney is staring at the sky, the stars looking familiar and different at the same time. He looks over at John, "How did you feel the last time we were on Earth?"

"Tired, and kind of distant. The same way I've always felt on Earth." John was leaning on the other side of the car, looking at him over the top. Rodney frowns, "Yeah, so we're just a couple of guys who didn't feel at home until we're in another galaxy." John nods. Rodney gets in the car, and they drive around the desert for a few hours. Aimless driving with time stretching out before them.

Life holds still for those hours, as they pick at each other, and Rodney makes John stop for coffee twice, and they end up in the middle of nowhere, on the hood of the car, looking up at the sky. Rodney falls asleep with his head on John's shoulder, and they stay out there until the sun rises, pink and gold, making John whistle at the stark beauty. Rodney groans about his back, and John smiles, because Earth feels a little like home when he has his arm around Rodney.


End file.
